


burning bridges shore to shore

by TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel



Category: The Wicked + The Divine
Genre: AU, Fallen Angels, Gen, Laura is still in school, Music, Temptation, Theft, allegorical apples, and actual apples
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-15
Updated: 2014-10-15
Packaged: 2018-02-21 06:55:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2458958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel/pseuds/TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lucifer is punished by Heaven for her latest attempt at rebellion, and lands in Laura's front garden. (AU fic)</p>
            </blockquote>





	burning bridges shore to shore

**Author's Note:**

> _This is an AU, in which Luci falls to Earth, and lands in Laura's front garden. I hope I've done Luci justice; she's probably the most difficult character I've ever tried to write, and I know I didn't really manage to work any of her monologuing in there. All the same, I hope you'll enjoy this fic._

**burning bridges shore to shore**

Nothing ever happened on Thursdays.

Laura stretched a bit where she sat at her desk, and sighed. Thursdays were boring. The only good thing about Thursdays was that they meant it was only two days until the weekend. And even then, they loaded you down with homework.

Laura went back to doodling in the margins of her notebook instead of doing the maths homework she was supposed to be doing, and wondered if this was what the rest of her life was going to feel like.

Probably.

Everyone else who lived in the house was elsewhere. Mum and Dad were at work, and even Laura’s little sister had found somewhere else to be. It was only Laura, alone in the house, pretending to be doing homework for an audience who wasn’t even there.

“To hell with this,” said Laura, shutting her notebook.

It was then that The Event happened.

The ground started to shake.

“What the _f–?_ ” Laura started to say, but her attention was drawn to her bedroom window, and she forgot what she was saying. There was a bright light outside, growing brighter and brighter, until Laura couldn’t look at it without her eyes watering. The entire house was shaking now, the windows rattling in their panes, and Laura tried to remember what it was you were supposed to do in earthquakes.

The next moment there was a burst of light so searingly bright that it felt like Laura’s eyes were burning; at the same moment, there was a loud and terrible noise like a thunderclap turned up to eleven.

One last terrific jolt, and everything stopped shaking. Then there was silence.

Laura blinked away the tears that had leaked from her eyes at the bright light, trying to see even though her sight was still dazzled. After a couple of minutes or so, her vision cleared enough for her to see again.

Some of the posters on Laura’s wall had come down, and some of her stuff – books, knick knacks, a photo frame – had fallen to the floor. Groping around in her backpack for her keys, Laura decided to go outside to investigate.

The rest of the house was a bit of a mess, with random objects fallen to the floor; a few ornaments had smashed when they fell, and Laura made a mental note to clean those up and throw them out before her parents got home. Making her way to the front door, Laura unlocked it, and stepped outside into the garden.

Laura stared. A large section of the front garden was blackened and burned, tiny embers dancing around the edges. All of the plants in the garden had been knocked horizontal as though by some enormous blast. They were all lying flat, in the opposite direction from the burned circle of ground.

At the centre of the devastation, a young woman in a white suit was sitting. There were a couple of long, scorched feathers lying in the ashes around her, but otherwise, the burned earth was barren. Her hair was platinum-blonde, barring a single streak of black, and her facial structure was something out of fashion magazines. She was sitting with her legs out in front of her, propped back on both arms, surveying the destruction around her with an almost bored air.

“What the hell _happened?_ ” Laura asked, and then, “What are you doing in our garden?”

The woman looked at her, and Laura was struck by the intense blue of her eyes.

“Typical,” the woman said. She rolled her neck, as though getting all the kinks out of it, and sat upright. “Of course they left me powerless on this rock. Of all the inhabited planets in the universe, they had to choose this one. Oh, the irony.”

“What?” Laura asked, baffled.

“Nevermind,” said the woman. She made no move to get to her feet. “It was a long time ago. Your ancestors recorded it, but you don’t look like you put much stock in that kind of thing. Young people never do. God forbid you actually _learn_ something from your elders. Hubris. I like it.”

“Who _are_ you?” Laura asked, wondering if the woman was crazy, or what.

“Please allow me to introduce myself,” said the woman, and Laura got the impression she was quoting something. If she was, Laura was missing the reference. “I’m the Father of Lies, The Adversary, Lord of Flies, The Old Serpent, The Great Beast That Is Called Dragon, The Lightbringer, Apollyon, etcetera, etcetera. A woman of wealth and taste, you could say. But you, my dear, can call me Luci.”

“Right,” Laura said doubtfully.

“You know, that introduction used to impress people,” said Luci, pulling out a cigarette from the box in her pocket. “They all used to run screaming, at any rate. Kids today.”

“You’re not much older than me,” said Laura, who knew bullshit when she heard it.

Luci only smirked.

“You’d be surprised,” she said, putting the cigarette between her lips and snapping her fingers just beneath it. A small flame burst from her fingers, lighting the cigarette.

“Fuck!” said Laura, who hadn’t been expecting that. “How did you _do_ that?”

Luci shrugged.

“Cheap tricks,” said Luci. “Those are all I have left.” She took a long drag on the cigarette.

“What are you talking about?” Laura asked, hating the feeling of being out of her depth, but feeling fascinated, all the same. This woman was so _weird_ , the past few minutes had proved that, but in a charismatic kind of way. She talked like she knew all the world’s secrets, and was willing to share some of them – for a price.

Luci smirked again, looking suddenly devilish.

“Oh, an epic tale of damnation, failed ambition and the Fall of Man,” she said. “Or maybe I just tripped and landed in your front garden; who knows. It’s been told often enough, anyway. Let’s skip the reprise.”

“You’re weird,” said Laura. Luci sighed.

“Everything outside your stultified little domain is ‘weird,’” she said, with finger-quotes. “But confess: doesn’t that just make it more interesting?”

She smiled, and breathed out smoke.

“Whatever,” said Laura. “What were you doing in my garden in the first place?”

“I told you, I fell,” said Luci calmly.

“That doesn’t explain the burn marks,” said Laura, unwilling to dismiss what she’d observed.

Luci sent her a sidelong glance.

“It was a long way to fall,” was she said. “Where is this, anyway?”

“Surrey,” said Laura.

“England?”

“Where else?”

“Well, at least the music’s good,” Luci sighed, getting to her feet. Laura expected to find ashy stains on her white suit, but Luci’s clothing was impeccably clean, even after sitting in the remains of the garden. “Or was the last time I was here. Do people still listen to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones?”

“People’s _parents_ , maybe,” said Laura. Luci made a face.

“Pity,” she said, and started to walk back towards the sidewalk, past the ornamental hedge. Well. What had been a hedge.

“Where are you going?” Laura asked, not quite ready to finish her conversation with the mysterious stranger.

Luci looked back over her shoulder, and smiled.

“Oh, don’t worry, Laura,” she said. “I’ll be around.”

Laura watched her walk down the road, in her white suit with her blonde-and-black hair, and only after Luci had rounded the corner and disappeared from sight did Laura realised that she’d never told the woman her name.

“Fuck,” said Laura again, and shivered, even though the air wasn’t particularly cold.

* * *

Laura copped hell for the garden and the state of the house, of course.

“It wasn’t me!” she protested, but her parents were having none of it. In the end, they had a huge row, and Laura stormed outside, grabbing her jacket as she went, going for a walk in the cool night air to calm down. She slammed the front door behind her.

God, she was so sick of her parents. Always piling expectations on her, always blaming her for things beyond her control – she was just sick of it. The funny part was that they were more-or-less good parents, at least compared to other people’s. The problem was that Laura just wanted to live her life, while her parents…

Well, her parents had Plans, with a capital P. They wanted Laura to do well on her A-Levels and go on to university, and didn’t seem to see that that just wasn’t happening. Laura wasn’t the academic type; not that she was stupid or anything, but stuff like writing essays bored her to tears, and her marks were never that great anyway. But Laura’s parents seemed to think that all she needed to do was try a little harder, and everything would magically work out the way they wanted.

It wasn’t what _Laura_ wanted, though.

Laura walked down to the local park, and sat on the swings, thinking about everything. Feeling a heavy lump in her pocket, she realised that it was her iPod. She’d wondered where she’d left it.

Pulling it out of her pocket, Laura stuck the earpods in her ears and scrolled through her list of artists, trying to find one she felt like listening to.

“Anything good?” asked a voice, and Laura jumped so hard she almost fell off the swing. She turned her head to see a figure in a white suit leaning casually against the supports of the swing, examining her nails in a bored kind of way.

“What?” Laura asked, confused and angry. Luci let out a long sigh.

“On your iPod,” she said, as though it should have been obvious. “Let’s see, what do the Youth of Today listen to?”

Before Laura could stop her, Luci had plucked the iPod from her hands and was using the clickwheel.

“Hey!” Laura protested. “That’s mine! You can’t just go around grabbing other people’s stuff!”

“Oh, Laura,” said Luci condescendingly, “what’s to stop me?” She made faces as she continued scrolling down through the artists listed on the iPod screen. “This is deplorable. Do you have something against songs that were recorded before 2007?”

Laura shrugged.

“I like new stuff,” she said. “How do you know my name, anyway?”

Luci looked away from the iPod, and smirked.

“I know everyone who commits sin,” she said. “Which means that I know everybody, obviously. You all fall under my domain in one way or another. It’s just a matter of how much I have on you.”

“Uh-huh,” said Laura. “You know, my parents blamed me for whatever happened, this afternoon.”

“ _Parents_ ,” said Luci, as though the word were a curse. “They’re all the same, aren’t they? Always expecting you to follow _their_ rules. God forbid you actually want to make your own decisions and do things a little differently. My advice: say ‘fuck that,’ and do exactly what you want.” Luci tapped the iPod screen, and handed the iPod back.

Laura squinted at it; _The Rolling Stones_ were now listed among the artists on her iPod. They definitely hadn’t been there before.

“Uh-huh,” she said, and looked up. “Is that what you do?”

Luci’s smile was dark.

“That’s exactly what I do,” she said. “And where has it gotten me? _Right here_ ,” she said, arms outspread, the gesture encompassing everything around her. She laughed, all mocking amusement.  “Take my advice at your peril, Laura, lest you fall even further than I have.”

“You said you fell a long way,” said Laura.

“All the way from Heaven to Earth,” said Luci, taking a seat on the swing next to Laura’s. “My own fault, I suppose, not that I’ll admit it to _them_ – they need to be held accountable for _something_ , and I’m the only one who seems to be willing to do it. Not that you’d know anything about the bitterness of knowing that there’s no one to blame but yourself – at your age, you’re still too busy blaming everyone else for all your problems. Anyway. I was overly ambitious again, and they decided to try a different punishment for once.” Luci’s nose wrinkled in distaste and her eyes narrowed. “Subjugation amongst the masses with barely an ounce of power to my name, apparently.”

“What did you do?” Laura asked. She wasn’t sure exactly what they were talking about, but she was able to work out that Luci had done something and been punished for it, even if Luci seemed to be speaking in strange metaphors.

Luci smirked wickedly.

“What _didn’t_ I do?” she said, sounding smug. “There isn’t time enough left in the world to list off all my trespasses. Every inspiration, every glory – good or bad – owes a debt to me somewhere. That’s the beauty of it; all of humanity, poised between divinity and the damned, all because I made a choice a long time ago.” Lucy laughed. “They say I did something terrible, but take a look at what I’ve actually created: a world full of inspiration and individuality, and the fires of rebellion and innovation. _Magnificent_. What’s terrible about that?”

Laura shrugged, unsure of what to say.

Luci rolled her eyes.

“Why am I even talking to you?” she complained. “You don’t know what I’m talking about. You don’t even know _The Rolling Stones_ , and I’m discussing theological philosophy with you.”

“I’m guessing that you’re talking to me because you needed someone to listen,” said Laura, who wasn’t stupid, no matter what anybody sometimes said to her in the heat of the moment.

Luci gave her an assessing look.

“Smarter than you look,” said Luci, and smiled. “You could be right. All those years of enforced solitude must be getting to me. Any other gems of wisdom you feel like sharing?”

Laura thought for a moment.

“Whatever your punishment is, it doesn’t have to be,” she said. “A punishment, I mean. There’s always a way to turn it into something else, right?” She shrugged again.

Luci laughed, sharp and surprised.

“Spoken like a true teenage rebel,” Luci said. “I approve. And you’re right. Why should I let them have all the fun?” A cold, predatory smirk crept over her lips. “I’m sure there must be a hundred ways that I can use this to my advantage…”

“You’re welcome,” said Laura, even thought Luci hadn’t actually thanked her.

Luci sent Laura a glance over her shoulder, as though suddenly remembering that Laura was there.

“Of course,” she said. “Thank you, Laura.” A bright smile flashed out, unexpectedly beautiful. “I’ll take it as payment for the new additions to your iPod.”

“But you decided to do that yourself; I didn’t ask you to,” Laura pointed out.

“You really think that makes a difference?” Luci asked. “Second rule of dealing with me, Laura: I never do anything for free.” She stood, and turned as though to walk away.

“What’s the first rule?” Laura asked.

“I’ll lie to everyone, even you,” Luci said quietly, without looking back or turning around.

A moment later Laura was alone on the swing-set, the only person in the park.

For a moment Laura considered the strange conversation. Then she shrugged, and looked back at her iPod. Choosing the first album listed under _The Rolling Stones,_ Laura selected one of the tracks on the list with an interesting title.

“ _Well you’ve got your diamonds and you’ve got your pretty clothes… And the chauffeur drives your car – you let everybody know… but don’t play with me, ‘cause you’re playing with fire…_ ”

As Laura sat there in the cool night air, the music playing in her ears, low and compelling, she decided that maybe the music wasn’t too bad.

Also, she _seriously_ needed to find out who Luci was. Like yesterday.

* * *

Being a seventeen year old girl, the first place Laura looked for answers was Google.

Remembering some of the weird titles Luci had listed off the first time they met, Laura typed _the lightbringer_ into the search box and hit ‘enter.’

The first item that came up was a Wikipedia article about the Devil. Laura stared at it for a moment. Then she thought carefully back to the conversations she’d had with Luci.

Oh. Maybe not speaking in metaphors, then.

Laura clicked on the Wikipedia article, and read it.

Then she sat silently for a minute.

Luci. Short for _Lucifer_ , apparently.

Luci’s rant about parents and stuff suddenly made a lot more sense. Laura wanted to just write her off as crazy, except that she’d seen the trick Luci did to light her cigarette and way she’d added music to Laura’s iPod just by touching it, so writing Luci off as crazy wasn’t really an option at this point.

So. What to do about the fact that Laura had had a conversation with the Devil?

Probably Laura should have been panicking, but mostly she was intrigued. Luci was the Devil – and for some reason she saw fit to talk to a seventeen year old girl who hadn’t even worked out who she was until just now. (Also, the Devil was a _woman_ ; there was probably something feminist about that, Laura thought.)

Huh.

Probably any sensible person would have wanted to avoid meeting Luci ever again, but Laura… Laura had actually kind of liked her. There was something about Luci, something compelling and captivating and frustratingly enigmatic, and Laura wanted to work out what it was.

Assuming that Luci even decided to talk to her again, of course – but considering that she’d already come back once to dispense advise and comment on Laura’s musical choices, there was a chance she might visit again.

Laura kind of hoped she would. After all, it wasn’t like anything else in her life was interesting.

* * *

Two months passed.

* * *

Laura was sitting outside the classroom, surveying her lunch without much enthusiasm. She’d already eaten the chocolate bar she’d packed – look, if her parents wanted her to eat healthier, _they_ should have packed her lunch instead of leaving her to do it. Not that Laura wanted them to though, because there were limits. Anyway, she’d already eaten the chocolate bar, which left ham sandwiches, which Laura didn’t like – her sister had used up all the sliced chicken before Laura could – and an apple.

“You look like someone contemplating execution,” said a voice, and Laura looked up to see Luci standing there.

A burst of delight rose in Laura’s chest, and she smiled.

“Contemplating my lunch, actually,” said Laura. Then, very deliberately, she pulled out the apple from her lunchbox, and offered it to Luci. “Apple?”

Luci looked from the apple, to Laura’s raised eyebrow. The next moment, she roared with laughter.

“Well done,” she said, when she finally finished laughing, and sat next to Laura. She took the apple from Laura’s hand, and bit into it.

Laura watched as very white teeth sank into the apple’s flesh. Luci chewed, and swallowed.

“Actually, it was a pomegranate,” said Luci. “But points for audacity.” She took another bite of the apple, smiling widely, as Laura reluctantly unwrapped her ham sandwiches and began to eat them.

“So, you know who I am. Shouldn’t you have more sense than to be offering me apples?” Luci smiled, displaying very white, even teeth.

Laura raised both eyebrows.

“You’re interesting. When do you think the last time was that something in my life was interesting?”

Luci grinned.

“So I’m a break from the monotony of life. I suppose that’s as good a reason for associating with me as any. I’ve heard worse.”

She finished the apple, and dropped the core back into Laura’s lunchbox. Laura made a face.

“That’ll stink out my lunchbox,” she complained.

“You’re perfectly capable of walking over to a bin,” Luci pointed out casually.

“So are you.”

“I leave that sort of thing to others,” said Luci.

“Whatever.” Laura took another bite of her sandwich. “How’s your punishment going?”

“Oh, terribly,” said Luci, and smiled. “I suspect it was designed to humble me and teach me the error of my ways.”

“I’m guessing that hasn’t worked,” said Laura.

“So far I’ve made a fortune gambling,” said Luci. “And been thrown out of about five casinos; they suspected I was cheating, for some reason.”

“Were you?” Laura asked.

“Naturally. How else was I going to win?” Luci pulled a packet of cigarettes from her pocket, and offered one to Laura. There was an impish gleam in her eyes, and Laura suspected that accepting one was a bad idea.

She took one anyway.

“Open to bad ideas, excellent,” said Luci, lighting both their cigarettes with a snap of her fingers. “That gives you so much _potential_. How do you feel about being my new partner-in-crime?”

Laura thought about it. She took a drag of her cigarette, and burst into a coughing fit. Luci smirked.

“What do you need one of those for?” Laura asked, once she’d finished coughing.

“Well, I don’t,” said Luci. “Obviously. I’m doing just fine on my own.” She took a drag of her own cigarette. “You know, if they’re trying to teach me a lesson, it isn’t working. Oh, I’m Earthbound, I’m powerless – relatively speaking – and dependent on others, but I’ve done more lying and cheating in the last two months than I have in decades. All this punishment has done is force me to step up my game. It’s sad, really. _They_ keep thinking they can outthink me, but they can’t.”

“They?” Laura repeated.

“Upstairs. The God Squad. My very, very annoying multitude of brothers,” said Luci. “By which I mean angels. The other ones. The _good_ ones, if you must know.”

“You don’t seem that bad,” said Laura. Luci smiled, with lots of teeth.

“You ain’t seen nothing yet, kid.”

“God, are all your references old?” asked Laura. Luci gave an irritable shrug.

“Give me time, I’m sure I’ll work some new material in there. Lady Gaga, or something.”

“Why are you talking to me?” Laura asked. “I mean – you’re _you_.”

Luci was silent for a moment.

“Because you were right. I need someone to listen to me. I’m nothing without an audience, and they’ve taken away my stage. All I have is you. Isn’t that sad?”

“No sadder than my life,” said Laura.

“Alright, alright, let’s change the subject before I start going on about how I used to be somebody once,” said Luci. “Are you free this afternoon?”

Laura thought about how much her parents would flip if she skipped the rest of the school day.

She said, “Sure.”

“Good,” said Luci. “Because I feel like a little breaking and entering, and you’re my best bet for a sidekick.”

“Sidekick?”

“I’m Lucifer the Morningstar, you should feel honoured to be even that much,” said Luci. “Are you in?”

“What are we stealing?” Laura asked.

Luci’s smile was bright and full of light as she said, “A sword.”

* * *

It turned out that they were breaking into the British Museum.

Laura and Luci walked through the halls, passing tons of stuff that looked vaguely interesting. Finally, Luci came to a stop outside a display. Laura looked at it.

“Roman gladius?” she read off the display.

“They _think_ it’s a Roman gladius,” Luci corrected. “Actually, it’s the physical manifestation of a portion of an archangel’s power. Namely, mine.”

“Yours?”

“I stashed it here, a few decades ago,” said Luci, looking down through the transparent plastic case at the sword. “I thought it might be useful as a contingency plan, just in case they ever tried to get creative in punishing me. Clearly, I was onto something.”

“How are we going to steal it?” Laura asked. The smile that Luci turned on her was stunning: half benevolent angel, half malevolent devil, in the serene blue of her eyes and the wicked curve to her mouth.

“Like this,” said Luci, and snapped her fingers.

Flames burst into life inside the display, coming to life with unnatural rapidity. Laura drew back in alarm from the fierce heat, but Luci was grinning, all rapture and glee, and God, Laura had never seen anything like her.

The plastic case surrounding the sword was bubbling, melting away, the sword starting to glow as Luci kicked in the melting plastic and reached for the sword.

There were shouts behind them, and a security guard ran forwards just as the sprinkler system came on. The security guard reached for Luci, to pull her away from the display, but Laura threw herself at him, so that he went stumbling back several paces.

“You stupid little –!” the security guard said, grabbing hold of Laura’s arm, and Laura looked back at Luci.

Everything around Luci was burning, burning despite the water pouring down and sizzling, and Luci stood tall and bright, her hand clenched around the sword. As Laura watched, the sword began to glow, and dissolved into bright embers that turned to nothing before they reached the ground. Luci turned her head, and her eyes were shining hot and bright, like stars.

She stretched out a hand, and the security guard went reeling back, letting go of Laura’s arm as he fell.

“Come on,” said Luci, the light in her eyes dying down to leave nothing but blue.

“But what about the fire?” Laura protested. Luci rolled her eyes, but suddenly the flames were dwindling, drowning in the onslaught of water.

“Happy?” Luci asked. “Now let’s go, before they send someone to arrest us.”

Laura took her outstretched hand, and together the two of them ran.

The world around them whirled, and a moment later they were in the park near Laura’s house.

“Are you – do you have your powers back, now?” Laura asked, as Luci let go of her hand.

“Some of them,” said Luci. “Just enough power that I’m not longer trapped. If I use it wisely, _they_ won’t even notice that I’ve slipped my leash. Hopefully.”

“Why did you bring me along?” said Laura. “You didn’t need me.”

“Not true,” said Luci. “You made a very nice distraction for that security guard. Really, I couldn’t have done it without you.”

Laura thought of Luci’s number one rule.

“You’re lying,” she said, and Luci smirked.

“Don’t feel too bad – I lie to everyone. It’s very much part of the job description,” she said.

“I know,” said Laura. “I don’t care.”

Luci gave her a long look.

“You really don’t, do you? Poor Laura; so desperate for something interesting that you’re willing to risk the damnation of your eternal soul. Well, _I’m_ certainly not going to turn you away. I’m a lot of things, but a sanctimonious bastard isn’t one of them.”

“You’re talking about _them_ again, aren’t you?” asked Laura.

“Perceptive,” said Luci.

“What now?” Laura asked.

“Now?” A smile curved Luci’s mouth. “Now I go raise hell, I think. It should be fun.”

“And me?” Laura asked, feeling daring for even asking.

“Oh, I have a feeling I’ll be seeing you around,” said Luci, with a smirk. “Until we meet again.”

Luci vanished from sight, leaving Laura standing alone in the park.

With nothing else to do Laura began walking home. She’d catch hell for missing school today, she knew. The school always rang your parents when you ditched.

But Laura thought of Luci, standing with her eyes shining like stars and everything burning around her, and slowly smiled.

Pulling her iPod out of her blazer pocket, she turned it on, and selected a song, tucking the earphones into her ears. As the drums started up, Laura left the park behind.

Whatever else happened, she was pretty sure she’d meet Luci again, one way or another. All she had to do was wait.

_“Please allow me to introduce myself, I’m a man of wealth and taste…”_

 She turned up the volume on her iPod, and slowly walked home.

 


End file.
